President Macron to unveil plan to give Europe's electric battery industry a jolt | ReutersIn a speech to the Paris-based International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers later on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron will unveil his strategy to help the French car industry fend off competition on electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous cars from Asian and U.S. tech giants.
The plan comes after Germany in November set aside 1 billion euros to support battery cell production to reduce dependence on Asian suppliers and shore up jobs at home that may be at risk from the shift away from combustion engines.
French officials said the two European countries will work on Franco-German initiatives, at a time when their countries’ carmakers are waking up to the threats posed from relying on Chinese suppliers in an age of international trade wars.
“For a long time, European carmakers considered it was not up to them to develop battery production,” a French official said.
“Now, those advocating for an international division of labor are forced to realize that trade war exists,” added the official.
While some carmakers assemble battery packs, Europe has no significant production of their constituent cells - currently dominated by a handful of firms including China’s CATL and Korean rivals LG Chem and Samsung
“China has a very aggressive strategy to eventually dominate the electric vehicle universe by starting from electric batteries all the way up the value chain,” the official said.
Peugeot-maker PSA threw its support behind efforts to create a European manufacturer of electric car batteries in March last year.
Domestic rival Renault, which sources electric-car batteries from LG Chem, also said it could buy cells from a European supplier as production of electric vehicles ramps up.
“We’re noticing a realization among carmakers that tomorrow’s competition will require a local battery industry,” the French official said.
Contemporary Amperex Technology
The French answer to CATL:ACC
"The Automotive Cell Company (ACC) will be a 50-50 Saft and Groupe PSA/Opel joint venture for the pilot production line. During the commercial production phase, Saft’s share in ACC will decline to 33%.
- the €200 million pilot plant to be launched in mid-2021 at Saft’s Nersac facility
"The first phase of the project focuses on R&D, including building a pilot plant on the land of Saft’s Nersac facility. The plant is scheduled to start up in mid-2021 and represents an investment of 200 million euros. The project will generate around 200 high-skilled jobs in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region to develop, qualify and commercially scale up new, high-performance lithium-ion batteries."- 8 GWh gigafactory to be built in the northern Hauts-de-France region in France starting in 2023 (then expanded to 16 GWh and to 24 GWh)
- 8 GWh gigafactory to be built in Rhineland-Palatinate state in Germany (then expanded to 16 GWh and to 24 GWh)
- the total output to be 48 GWh by 2030 (2x 24 GWh)
"This first phase will trigger the investment decision for a large-scale production plant (8 GWh initially, rising to 24 GWh later on) in the northern Hauts-de-France region, followed by a second one of equal capacity in Germany, in order to reach 48 GWh of combined capacity by 2030."
PSA Group And Saft Announce Two EV Battery Gigafactories (insideevs.com)Groupe PSA/Opel and Total/Saft have signed an agreement for the creation of the joint venture ACC. Yann Vincent has been appointed Chief Executive in order to implement and develop it. Ghislain Lescuyer has been appointed Chairman of the Board.
With this partnership, the parties are setting up a world-class player in the development and manufacture of high-performance batteries for the automotive industry from 2023.
Total/Saft will contribute its expertise in R&D and industrialization, and Groupe PSA its knowledge of the automotive market and its experience in production. The R&D centre in Bordeaux and the pilot site in Nersac (France) have already started in order to develop the new high-performance lithium-ion technologies. At the end of this R&D phase, mass production could be launched in two "gigafactories", in Douvrin (France) and Kaiserslautern (Germany).
This project aims to:
This project benefits from the financial support of French and German public authorities representing €1.3 billion. It received the European institutions agreement through an IPCEI project that testifies to the strategic importance of mobility for the energy transition. The whole project will mobilize an investment more than €5 billion investment.
- Respond to the challenges of the energy transition by reducing the environmental footprint of vehicles throughout the value chain in a desire to offer clean and affordable mobility to citizens.
- Produce batteries for electric vehicles that will be at the highest technological level in terms of energy performance, autonomy, recharging time and carbon footprint.
- Develop production capacity, essential to accompany the growth demand for electric vehicles in a European market estimated at 400 GWh by 2030, i.e. 15 times the current market.
- Ensure industrial independence in Europe for the conception and manufacture of batteries, with an initial capacity of 8 GWh, reaching a cumulative capacity of 48 GWh on both sites by 2030. It will represent 1 million electric vehicles produced per year, i.e. more than 10% of the European market.
- Position ACC as a major competitive player in supplying electric vehicle manufacturers.
Carlos Tavares, Chairman of Groupe PSA: «The construction of the European battery consortium that we wished for is now a reality. I would like to pay special tribute to the commitment of the Total/Saft and Groupe PSA/Opel teams who have made this project come true. This new step is consistent with our central purpose: "to offer citizens clean, safe and affordable mobility" and gives Groupe PSA a competitive advantage in the context of growing sales of electric vehicles. ACC takes Groupe PSA further along the road to carbon neutrality».
Groupe PSA and Total Create "Automotive Cells Company", a Joint Venture Dedicated to the Manufacture of Batteries in Europe (yahoo.com)
Stellantis will be the only OEM with total in-house battery production from scratch ...........however given crazy valuation's on tech I wouldn't be stunned to see John push to buyout the French-related interest in ACC, make it an Netherlands company leading to an ACC IPO in New York (ala Ferrari).
Pretty big...Stellantis can use its U.S. expertise to bring ACC to the United States as new U.S. President Biden changes regulations around ICE.
